Wednesday, April 18, 2012

The Notorious B.I.G. Life After Death

#483 on the Rolling Stone Magazine top 500 albums of all time.
Life After Death is the second and final studio album by American rapper The Notorious B.I.G., released March 25, 1997 on Bad Boy Records. A double album, it was released posthumously following his death on March 9, 1997 and serves as his final studio album. The album is the follow-up to The Notorious B.I.G.'s debut album, Ready to Die (1994), and it features collaborations with guest artists such as 112, Jay-Z, Lil Kim, Mase, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Too Short, Carl Thomas, Run-DMC, Total, R. Kelly, The LOX, Kelly Price, and Puff Daddy. Life After Death exhibits The Notorious B.I.G. further delving into the mafioso rap subgenre.

Life After Death was released to a significant amount of critical praise and commercial success. In 2000, the album was certified diamond in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and it has been credited as one of the best-selling rap albums of all time. It also made the largest jump to number one on the Billboard 200 chart in history, jumping from number 176 to number one in one week. Also, it spent four weeks at number one on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and topped the Billboard Year-End chart as an R&B/Hip-Hop Album for 1997. The album was nominated for three Grammy Awards in 1998, including Best Rap Album, Best Rap Solo Performance for its first single "Hypnotize", and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for its second single "Mo Money Mo Problems". Along with Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… (1995), AZ's Doe Or Die (1995), Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt (1996), and Nas' It Was Written (1996) Life After Death has been considered by music writers as one of the seminal mafioso rap albums, as well as a milestone in hip hop music.

Though released in the wake of B.I.G.'s fatal shooting, Life After Death signaled a stylistic change in gangsta rap as it crossed over to the commercial mainstream. After the release of Life After Death, Puff Daddy’s Bad Boy Records continued to bring pop and gangsta rap closer together: the references to violence and drug dealing remained, as did the entire "gangsta" rhetoric, but the overall production style changed from the previously darker sound to a cleaner, sample-heavy, more upbeat sound that was directly fashioned for the mainstream pop charts, as seen in the single "Mo Money Mo Problems". The Notorious B.I.G. is often credited with initiating this transition, as he was among the first mainstream rappers to produce albums with a calculated attempt to include both gritty and realistic gangsta narratives as well as more radio-friendly productions. Much of the album is produced by Deric "D-Dot" Angelettie, Carlos "July Six" Broady, Nigga Squintz, Ron "Amen-Ra" Lawrence, and Nashiem Myrick. However, other notable hip-hop producers such as Easy Mo Bee, Havoc (Mobb Deep), DJ Premier and RZA contributed beats to the album as well.

Various artists were specifically influenced by several songs on Life After Death. Evidence's "Down in New York City" is essentially "Going Back to Cali" from the perspective of a West Coast artist. Jay-Z borrows four bars from "The World Is Filled..." in his song "I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)", as well as the chorus from his song "Squeeze 1st" from "Hypnotize", a line in "The Ruler's Back" from "Kick in the Door" and "You're Nobody ('Til Somebody Kills You)" on "D.O.A." Ice Cube borrows the chorus from "Kick in the Door" for his song "Child Support". Monica uses "I Love the Dough" beat and a verse from B.I.G. as featured, on her 2010's "Everything to Me" official remix. On their RCA album, Release Some Tension, R&B trio SWV sampled the song on as the opening track, "Someone" which features B.I.G's friend and protege Combs which was released five months later.

Title Time Songwriters Producers Featured Artists Samples
1 "Life After Death (Intro)"* 1:39 C. Wallace, S. Jordan, Sean Combs Sean "Puffy" Combs & Steven "Stevie J" Jordan for The Hitmen, co-produced by The Notorious B.I.G.
* Contains a sample of "Suicidal Thoughts" by The Notorious B.I.G.
* Contains a sample of "This Masquerade" by George Benson